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JUNTA TRIUMPHS IN GENEVA
DSIF TRIUMPHS IN GENEVA
(analysis by Burma Peace Foundation)
DSIF STRATEGY
Since Burma joined ASEAN last year, the junta's most effective institution,
its Department of Shooting Itself in the Foot (DSIF) has stepped up its
vigorous and successful campaign to alienate the neighbours, increase
Burma's status as a pariah State and thus its international isolation (I
leave it to the professionals to undertake the psycho-political analysis of
these events, but I would not be surprised if they were to find a high
degree of institutional sado-masochism at play(1)).
Means employed include the renewed cross-border attacks into Thailand by
the DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a militia aligned with the ruling
State Peace and Development Council - SPDC - as the Burmese junta now calls
itself). These attacks are specifically designed to embarrass Thailand's
military and political leaders. Another DSIF ploy has been to unilaterally
block cross-border trade, causing economic damage to China and Thailand.
Other successes have been the continuation of massive exports of heroin and
AIDS and the continued flow of refugees into neighbouring countries. In an
effort to further irritate the international community, the DSIF has
continued to refuse access by the UN's Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, and
continues its harassment of the NLD (National League for Democracy the
party that won a landslide victory in the 1990 elections and is still
waiting for the junta to transfer power), including the recent sentencing
of elected NLD representative Daw San San to 25 years imprisonment for
being interviewed by the international media. Other tactics have been
atrocities against the ethnic minorities, including the massive forced
relocations in Shan State and a degree of forced labour which has caused
the ILO (International Labour Organisation) to activate its most severe
measure, a quasi-judicial Commission of Inquiry on Forced Labour in Myanmar
(only the tenth since the ILO was founded in 1919). The Commission of
Inquiry is expected to report in July or August.
THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
These devices have succeeded in their aim of further isolating the junta.
The extent of this achievement was seen on 21 April when the UN Commission
on Human Rights (CHR) meeting in Geneva, adopted a resolution on the
"Situation of human rights in Myanmar" which was stronger by several
degrees than any of the previous years' resolutions.
I have been watching Burma at the CHR from the first resolution in 1989,
through its two years under the Confidential Procedure (1503), to the
annual public resolutions adopted from 1992 onwards. For the past five
years or so, the drafting process has worked something like this:
A mechanic from the Foreign Ministry of the drafting government -- since it
is a European Union (EU) resolution this would normally be the EU
Presidency, though France was entrusted with the job from 89 to 96 -- goes
down into the basement, takes last year's CHR and General Assembly (GA)
resolutions off the shelf, puts them on the bench, splices them together so
that any new language coming in at the GA is incorporated in the new CHR
draft (it doesn't quite work vice versa), hunts around for any "good" or
"bad" things that have happened over the past year to insert, does a bit of
trimming and consolidating to get the draft down to size, passes it round
the office with the sandwiches, and sends it out to the other EU members,
who add their comments, some of which are then incorporated into a 2nd
draft. (Before doing the first splice, the mechanic may have flipped
through a few piles of stuff which various governments, NGOs and others
have sent in. An important input is the report of the Special Rapporteur on
Myanmar. Recommendations by the Special Rapporteur frequently find their
way into the resolution.)
The EU diplomats at the Commission discuss the draft and prepare another
text which goes to potential co-sponsors (e.g. USA, Canada, Australia,
Eastern Europe and South American countries). After further input from
them, a new draft is normally circulated to the "opposition" i.e. the
Japanese, the ASEANS, SPDC etc, who try and water it down, cut out the
politically strategic language, and add new "good" things to balance the
new "bad" paras. During all this time, the representatives of the Burmese
democracy movement who come to Geneva for this purpose, are watching the
process, and along with NGOs make modest suggestions for improvement/
strengthening of the text.
But this year it didn't happen like this. This year, Burma's usual allies
were silent. There was almost no objection to the new, strong language
which had found its way into the draft. Hardly any watering down. When I
saw the text, I was amazed that it could achieve consensus. But it did.
Though many factors were at play, including the fact that Indonesia was
busy doing deals on an East Timor text and ASEAN as a whole had its mind
on financial matters, the main accolade for this notable achievement must
be accorded to DSIF.
Well done, Well done, Well done.
__________________
(1) On the other hand, as a short footnote, I should add that it is
possible to see DSIF's achievements as rational. For instance, the
reluctance of the junta to abandon its grip on the rickety State Economic
Enterprises and the priority it gives to military control over virtually
everything, including rice farming, education and the sending of faxes, are
factors in destabilising the economy and discouraging international aid or
investment which far outweigh any economic sanctions imposed or
contemplated. To those sceptics who would stress the irrationality of such
a policy, I would point out that keeping the country poor, isolated and
fragmented makes perfect sense once one accepts the premise that this is
the only situation in which the junta can continue to stay in power, and
that staying in power is the point. DSIF, far from being an aberration, is
thus pursuing the central policy goals of the Burmese leadership. Some
people might even see this approach as a heroic resistance to globalisation
and the grip of transnational corporations. Let us not forget that shooting
oneself in the foot has the personally rational goal of avoiding worse
injuries or death in battle].
******************
To see how much stronger this year's CHR resolution is from last year's,
here are the two texts:
UNITED NATIONS
Economic and Social Council
Distr. LIMITED
E/CN.4/1998/L.81/Rev.1
20 April 1998
Original: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty fourth session
Agenda item 10
QUESTION OF THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL
FREEDOMS, IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE
TO COLONIAL AND OTHER DEPENDENT COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES
Australia*, Austria, Belgium*, Bulgaria*, Canada, Costa Rica*
Cyprus*, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia*, Finland*, France,
Germany, Greece*, Hungary*, Iceland*, Ireland, Italy, Latvia*,
Liechtenstein*, Lithuania*, Luxembourg, Netherlands*. New
Zealand*, Norway*, Poland, Portugal*, Romania*, San Marino*,
Slovakia*, Slovenia*, Spain*, Sweden*, Switzerland*, United
States of America, United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland: draft resolution
_________
* In accordance with rule 69, paragraph 3, of the rules
of procedure of the functional commissions of the Economic and
Social Council.
GE.98 12229 (E)
1998/... Situation of human rights in Myanmar
The Commission on Human Rights,
Reaffirming that all Member States have an obligation to
promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms as
stated in the Charter of the United Nations and as elaborated
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenants on Human Rights and other applicable
human rights instruments,
Aware that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
states that the will of the people shall be the basis of the
authority of government,
Mindful that Myanmar is a party to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 on the
protection of victims of war,
Recalling previous resolutions of the General Assembly and
the Commission on Human Rights on the subject, most recently
Assembly resolution 52/137 of 12 December 1997 and Commission
resolution 1997/64 of 16 April 1997,
1. Welcomes:
(a) The report of the Special Rapporteur (E/CN.4/1998/70) and
the report of the Secretary General (E/CN.4/1998/163);
(b) The cooperation by the Government of Myanmar with the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and international non governmental organizations with respect
to the voluntary repatriation and reintegration of returnees
from Bangladesh, and takes note of the role of the United
Nations Children's Fund in the promotion in Myanmar of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child;
(c) The accession of the Government of Myanmar on 22 July 1997
to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women;
(d) The Secretary General's meeting with Senior General Than
Shwe, Chairman of the State peace and Development Council and
Prime Minister, and the visits to Myanmar by the Special Envoy
of the Secretary General in May 1997 and in January 1998, for
the purpose of discussions with the Government and with Aung
San Suu Kyi and other political leaders;
(e) The remission of sentences for some long-term prisoners
announced by the Government of Myanmar in December, and calls
for this to be widened to include prisoners imprisoned for
their peaceful political activities;
(f) The holding of the Party Congress of the National League
for Democracy in September 1997 and subsequent meetings
marking Myanmar's National Day, Independence Day and Union
Day;
2. Takes note of the contact, despite its limited nature,
between the Government of Myanmar and the National League for
Democracy, but deeply regrets the failure of the Government of
Myanmar to engage in a substantive political dialogue with Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders, including
representatives of ethnic groups;
3. Expresses its deep concern:
(a) At the continuing violations of human rights in Myanmar as
reported by the Special Rapporteur, including extrajudicial,
summary or arbitrary executions and enforced disappearances,
torture, abuse of women and children by government agents,
arbitrary seizures of land and property, violations of freedom
of movement of people and goods, and the imposition of
oppressive measures directed in particular at ethnic and
religious minorities, including systematic programmes of
forced relocation, and the widespread use of forced labour,
including work on infrastructure projects and as porters for
the army;
(b) At the severe restrictions on the freedoms of opinion,
expression, assembly and association, the restrictions on
citizens' access to information including censorship controls
on all forms of domestic media and many international
publications, and the restrictions imposed on citizens wishing
to travel abroad, including the denial of passports on
political grounds; at the continued closure of most
institutions of higher education for political reasons, at the
absence of due process of law, including arbitrary arrest and
politically motivated arrest and detention, the detention of
prisoners without trial and the trial of detainees in secrecy
without proper legal representation, and at the inhuman
treatment of prisoners, leading to illness and deaths in
custody, as reported by the Special Rapporteur;
(c) At the violations of the rights of women, especially women
who are refugees, internally displaced women and women
belonging to ethnic minorities or the political opposition,
in particular forced labour, sexual violence and exploitation,
including rape, as reported by the Special Rapporteur;
(d) At continuing violations of the rights of children in
contravention of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in
particular by the lack of conformity of the existing legal
framework with the Convention, by recruitment of children into
forced labour programmes and into the armed forces and by
discrimination against children belonging to ethnic and
religious minority groups;
(e) At the violations of rights of persons belonging to
minorities, including the systematic programmes of forced
relocations directed against ethnic minorities, notably in
Karen, Kayan, Rakhine and Shan States and in Tennasserim
Division, resulting in displaced persons and flows of refugees
to neighbouring countries, thus creating problems for the
countries concerned, and deplores recent attacks on refugee
camps on the border between Thailand and Myanmar;
(f) That the Government of Myanmar still has not implemented
its commitment to take all necessary steps towards democracy
in the light of the democratic elections of 1990, while noting
that the absence of respect for the rights pertaining to
democratic governance is at the root of all major violations
of human rights in Myanmar;
(g) That the Government of Myanmar refuses to cooperate with
and has not yet agreed to a visit by the Special Rapporteur;
(h) That most of the representatives duly elected in 1990 are
still excluded from participating in the meetings of the
National Convention, created to prepare basic elements for the
drafting of a new constitution, and that one of the objectives
of the National Convention is to maintain the participation of
the armed forces in a leading role in the future political
life of the State, and notes also with concern that the
composition and working procedures of the National Convention
do not permit the elected representatives of the people freely
to express their views, and concludes that the National
Convention does not appear to constitute the necessary steps
towards the restoration of democracy;
(i) At the restrictions placed upon political leaders,
particularly Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, at the continued
harassment, arrest and detention of members and supporters of
the National League for Democracy and other democratic groups,
students, trade unionists and members of religious orders for
peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression,
assembly and association, and at the harsh sentences imposed
on supporters of the National League for Democracy in December
1997, and at the forced resignations of elected
representatives;
(j) At the imprisonment of members of the National League for
Democracy, among others, and restrictions which have
substantially disrupted legitimate gatherings of the National
League for Democracy;
4. Calls upon the Government of Myanmar:
(a) To guarantee an end to violations of the right to life and
integrity of the human being and to ensure full respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedoms of
thought, opinion, expression, association and assembly, the
right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial
judiciary and the protection of the rights of persons
belonging to ethnic and religious minorities;
(b)To take urgent and meaningful measures to ensure the
establishment of democracy in accordance with the will of the
people as expressed in the democratic elections held in 1990
and, to this end, to engage immediately and unconditionally in
substantive dialogue with the leaders of political parties,
including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and with leaders of ethnic
groups, with the aim of achieving national reconciliation and
restoration of democracy, and to ensure that political parties
and non-governmental organizations can function freely;
(c) To take all appropriate measures to allow all citizens to
participate freely in the political process, in accordance
with the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, and to accelerate the process of transition to
democracy, in particular through the transfer of power to
democratically elected representatives;
(d) Urgently to improve conditions of detention and to allow
the competent international humanitarian organization to
communicate freely and confidentially with prisoners;
(e) To cooperate fully and unreservedly with the relevant
mechanisms of the Commission, in particular with the Special
Rapporteur, and to ensure his access to Myanmar in order to
establish direct contact with the Government and with any
person in the country whom he may deem appropriate, to allow
him fully to discharge his mandate;
(f) To continue to cooperate with the Secretary General or his
representatives and to broaden this dialogue, including
through access to any person deemed appropriate by the
Secretary General, and to implement their recommendations;
(g) To ensure the safety and physical well-being of all
political leaders, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to
permit unrestricted communication with and physical access to
Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders, and to release
immediately and unconditionally those detained for political
reasons, to ensure their physical integrity and to permit them
to participate in a meaningful process of national
reconciliation;
(h) To fulfil its obligations under the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, including as set out in the concluding
observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and to consider becoming a party
to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, as well as to
other human rights instruments;
(i) And all other parties to the hostilities in Myanmar to
respect fully their obligations under international
humanitarian law, including article 3 common to the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949, to halt the use of weapons
against the civilian populations, to protect all civilians,
including children, women and persons belonging to ethnic or
religious minorities, from violations of humanitarian law and
to avail themselves of services offered by impartial
humanitarian bodies;
(j) To fulfil its obligations as a State party to the Forced
Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and to the Freedom of
Association and Protection of the Right to Organize
Convention, 1948 (No. 87) of the International Labour
Organization and to cooperate more closely with the
International Labour Organization, in particular with the
Commission of Inquiry appointed in accordance with article 26
of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization;
(k) To end the enforced displacement of persons and other
causes of refugee flows to neighbouring countries and to
create conditions conducive to their voluntary return and full
reintegration in safety and dignity including, where these are
lacking, rights of full citizenship, in close cooperation with
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees;
(l) To fulfil its obligations to end impunity of perpetrators
of human rights violations, including members of the military
and to investigate and prosecute alleged violations committed
by government agents in all circumstances;
(m) To investigate the circumstances which led to the death in
June 1996 of Mr. James Leander Nichols while detained by the
Government of Myanmar and to prosecute the person or persons
responsible;
5. Decides:
(a) To extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, as
contained in Commission resolution 1992/58 of 3 March 1992,
for a further year, and requests the Special Rapporteur to
submit an interim report to the General Assembly at its
fifty-third session and to report to the Commission at
its fifty-fifth session, and to keep a gender perspective in
mind when seeking and analysing information;
(b) To request the Secretary-General to continue to give all
necessary assistance to the Special Rapporteur to enable him
to discharge his mandate fully and to pursue all efforts to
ensure that the Special Rapporteur is authorized to visit
Myanmar;
(c) To request the Secretary-General to continue his
discussions with the Government of Myanmar and anyone he may
consider appropriate in order to assist in the implementation
of General Assembly resolution 52/137 and of the present
resolution;
(d) To continue its consideration of this question at its
fifty-fifth session.
Adopted by consensus, 21 April 1998
*******************************************
UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
Distr. LIMITED
E/CN.4/1997/L.97
11 April 1997
Original: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty-third session
Agenda item 10
QUESTION OF THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL
FREEDOMS IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE
TO COLONIAL AND OTHER DEPENDENT COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and United States of
America: draft resolution
1997/....Situation of human rights in Myanmar
The Commission on Human Rights,
Reaffirming, that Member States have an obligation to
promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms as
stated in the Charter of the United Nations and as elaborated
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenants on human rights and other applicable
human rights instruments,
Mindful that Myanmar is a party to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the Geneva Conventions on the
protection of victims of war,
Recalling previous resolutions of the General Assembly
and the Commission on Human Rights on the subject, most
recently General Assembly resolution 51/117 of 12 December
1996 and Commission on Human Rights resolution 1996/80 of 23
April 1996,
1. Welcomes
(a) The report by the Special Rapporteur
(E/CN.4/1997/64);
(b) The report of the Secretary-General on his
discussions with the Government of Myanmar (E/CN.4/1997/129);
(c) The continuing cooperation by the Government of
Myanmar with the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees for the voluntary repatriation and
reintegration of returnees from Bangladesh;
(d) The scheduled visit of a special envoy of the
Secretary-General to Myanmar from 7 to 10 May 1997, in the
discharge of the good offices functions of the Secretary- General,
for discussions with the Government and other political leaders
of Myanmar as he may consider appropriate, in order to assist
in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 51/117
and of the present resolution;
2. Expresses its deep concern
(a) At the continuing violations of human rights in
Myanmar, as reported by the Special Rapporteur, including
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, death in
custody, torture, arbitrary and politically-motivated arrest
and detention, absence of due process of law, including trial
of detainees in secrecy without proper legal representation,
severe restrictions on freedoms of opinion, expression,
movement, assembly and association, forced relocation, forced
labour by children as well as adults, including portering for
the military, abuse of women and children by government agents
and oppression of ethnic and religious minorities;
(b) At the absence of significant steps towards the
establishment of democratic government after the democratic
elections of 1990, while noting that according to the Special
Rapporteur, the absence of respect for the rights pertaining
to democratic governance is at the root of all the major
violations of human rights in Myanmar;
(c) That the Government of Myanmar has not yet agreed to
a visit by the Special Rapporteur;
(d) That most of the representatives democratically
elected in 1990 have been excluded from participating in the
meetings of the National Convention, that severe restrictions
have been imposed on delegates, including members of the
National League for Democracy, who have withdrawn and
subsequently were excluded, at the end of 1995, from the
sessions of the Convention and who were unable to meet or
distribute their literature, and that one of the objectives of
the Convention is to maintain the participation of the armed
forces (Tatmadaw) in a leading role in the future political
life of the State, and concludes that the National Convention
does not appear to constitute the necessary steps towards the
restoration of democracy;
(e) At the restrictions placed upon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
and other political leaders, at harassment, detention and
forced resignations of elected representatives, at the recent
attack against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the
National League for Democracy and other supporters of
democratic groups in Myanmar, including persons peacefully
exercising their right to freedom of expression during the
recent student demonstrations;
(f) At the forced relocation and other violations of the
rights of persons belonging to minorities, resulting in a flow
of refugees to neighbouring countries, and at the recent
attacks on members of the Karen ethnic group, resulting in
death, destruction and displacement;
(g) At violations of the rights of children in
contravention of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in
particular by the lack of conformity of the existing legal
framework with this Convention, by systematic recruitment of
children into forced labour, and by discrimination against
children belonging to ethnic and religious minority groups;
3. Calls upon the Government of Myanmar
(a) To guarantee an end to violations of the right to
life and integrity of the human being, to ensure full respect
for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom
of thought, opinion, expression, association and assembly, the
right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial
judiciary and the protection of the rights of persons
belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, and to urgently
improve conditions of detention;
(b) To take urgent and meaningful measures to ensure the
establishment of democracy in accordance with the will of the
people as expressed in the democratic elections held in 1990
and, to this end, to engage at the earliest possible date in a
substantive political dialogue with the leaders of political
parties returned at the elections of 1990, including Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi, and with leaders of ethnic groups, as the best
means of promoting national reconciliation and restoration of
democracy, and to ensure that political parties and non-governmental
organizations can function freely;
(c) To cooperate fully with the relevant mechanisms of
the Commission, in particular the Special Rapporteur, and to
ensure his access to Myanmar, without preconditions, in order
to allow him fully to discharge his mandate, and to cooperate
with the Secretary-General or his representatives, including
through access to any person deemed appropriate by the
Secretary-General or the Special Rapporteur;
(d) To ensure the safety of all political leaders,
including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to release immediately and
unconditionally detained political leaders and all political
prisoners, to ensure their physical integrity and to permit
them to participate in a meaningful process of national
reconciliation;
(e) To consider becoming a party to the International
Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, the Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, as well as to other human rights
instruments;
(f) And all other parties to the hostilities in Myanmar
to respect fully their obligations under international
humanitarian law, including article 3 common to the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949, to halt the use of weapons
against the civilian population, to protect all civilians,
including persons belonging to ethnic or religious minorities,
from violations of humanitarian law, and to avail themselves
of services as may be offered by impartial humanitarian
bodies;
(g) To fulfil its obligations as a State party to the
Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and to the Freedom of
Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention
1948 (No. 47) of the International Labour Organization, and to
cooperate more closely with the International Labour
Organization, in particular with the Commission of Inquiry
appointed in accordance with article 3 of the Constitution of
the International Labour Organization;
(h) To create the necessary conditions to remove the
causes of displacement and of refugee flows to neighbouring
countries and to create conditions conducive to their
voluntary return and their full reintegration in safety and
dignity, in close cooperation with the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;
(i) To fulfil its obligations to end impunity of
perpetrators of human rights violations, including members of
the military, and to investigate and prosecute alleged
violations committed by government agents in all
circumstances;
(j) To investigate the circumstances which led to the
death in June 1996 of Mr James Leander Nichols while detained
by the Government of Myanmar, and to prosecute any person who
could be held responsible;
4. Decides
(a) To extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, as
contained in Commission resolution 1992/58 of 3 March 1992,
for a further year, and requests the Special Rapporteur to
submit an interim report to the General Assembly at its
fifty-second session on human rights in Myanmar and to report to the
Commission at its fifty-fourth session, and to keep a gender
perspective in mind when seeking and analysing information;
(b) To request the Secretary-General to continue to give
all necessary assistance to the Special Rapporteur to enable
him to discharge his mandate fully;
(c) To request the Secretary-General to continue his
discussions with the Government of Myanmar and anyone he may
consider appropriate in order to assist in the implementation
of General Assembly resolution 51/117 and of the present
resolution;
(d) To continue the examination of the situation of human
rights in Myanmar during its fifty-fourth session under the
agenda item entitled "Question of the violation of human
rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world"
......
Adopted by consensus, 16 April 1997